Can't see clubs being happy giving up home advantage in the CC.

Wonder what the attendances will be like in the cup this weekend.

Pitiful, as usual I would imagine.

It's a competition on its last legs sadly.

IMO they shoudl have a big shake up of the competition.

The virtues of the cup are:
Great TV exposure
Gives little teams a chance to test themselves
Financial boost for small teams

They could do some radical stuff to make the cometition more appealing.

Finals and Semis I would keep the same, all interesting.

Quarters I would stage instead of MM at one venue. Scrap MM in its place

Rounds before should be team from lower division always at home to a SL side. It would be a great boost for small clubs, and the larger clubs fans can get interested early on.

Also takes a stupid fixture out of SL, but keeps the magic weekend

Sadly I think it's beyond fixing, unless games are made free entry up to the semi-finals with a larger percentage of the TV revenue being given to the smaller clubs to compensate for potential bumper paydays lost.

With Franchises in place and no P&R I would hope that it could be kept going for the benefit of the National Leagues. I'll bet the SL chairmen don't share my compassion though and as soon as they feel it's a hindrance it will be dropped faster than a whores knickers.

This I like the sound of.

All four quarter finals on the same day or spread over the weekend?

Would cities outside the RL heartlands be as interested in staging the event though I wonder?

And would the BBC show all four ties and big up the event in the same way Sky try to?

Bit Harsh on big Ali , I'm glad you are not the coach

Not too bad really for all pay fixtures when compared to the sole SL fixture played this weekend or the equivalent SL crowds where comparable. Perhaps SL is struggling?

Wigan - 9,466
Hull KR - 7,671
Gateshead - 4,325
Huddersfield -6,359

That one suprised me, Cas brought a lot over, Minimal home support though

According to some, there were more Cas there than Huddersfield. The Pink Link stand did appear very full of Cas fans, so it must have been close

I thought it was a respectable turnout from both sets for a televised all pay fixture not subsidised by Mr Davy's cheap season ticket deal.

A good game as well (not for the purist) for the neutrals as was the game at Craven Park. A good weekend for the game all round outside of Wales.

Not subsidised by the season ticket deal, but still well priced at £10 for adults, so I'd have expected a few more there.

However, both televised games were exactly what I wanted to see. Very close games, decided near or beyond the 80th minute. The comarison with the one sided walkover in South Wales couldn't have been more marked.

i thought there looked more Cas fans than what we took over for League game TBF

didnt see Saturdays game but yesterdays game I was very suprised at, great for TV, shame about the commentaters tho

I didn't realise that. A little disappointing in that case. Such an initiative deserved 8K plus. Looked bloody hot out there.

What was the score in the game vs Castleford that was played on the same day as the mid season test in 02? I missed that one, too busy "enjoying" the thrashing we received in Sydney

12th July 2002:

Australia 64 Great Britain 10

and

Leeds 24 Castleford 32

Bad times

He'll be injured...

Percy according to Cas they should have won, but they dint.

Cheers.

I remember a drunken 20 minute phone call home after the test match that cost me about £40



Cant remember what was said though

Reckon we will only be missing 3 players for this game..

Hall, Peacock and McGuire.

Is anyone off to France for this game?
Two weeks in a row to France that will be for the Rhinos hardcore who chose to support the nation.

or just timed a 2 week holiday well

I went to the final, did you watch???

25 seconds, unbelievable.